Nursing-bottle nipple.



- B. s. LACY. NURSING BOTTLE NIPPLE. APPLIOAT ION TILED D20. 6, 1910.

W x, W A I 235% g uwjvz zw Patented July 9, 1912.

.BURRITT S. LACY, OF DUBUQUE, IOWA.

NURSING-BOTTLE NIIPLE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 9', 1912.

Application filed December 6, 1910. SerialfNo. 595,899.

Toall whom it may concern; 7

Be it known that I, BUBR'ITT S. LACY, a citizen of the United States,and a resident of Dubu'que, in the county of Dubuque and State of Iowa,have inventedxcertain new and useful Improvements in Nursing-Bottle ofwhich the following is a full and clear specification, reference beinghad to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a verticalsectional view of one desirable embodiment of my invention; Fig. 2 asimilar view showing the preferred manner of forming the feed opening inthe nipple body; and Figs. 3 and 4 views similar to Fig. 1 showing otherpossible embodiments of the invention.

The nursing nipples now are necessarily formed of thin,

Nipples,

in universal use very flexible rubber. This'renders it practicallyimposthickening material.

opening by stretching.

sible to providea feed opening whose capacity shall remain constantsince the mouthing of the nipple by the infant during the act of feedingnecessarily distorts the orifice and furthermore, the continued use ofthe nipple soon permanently enlarges the As is tvell known, this is aserious objection fbr the reason that it is practically impossible toinsure a uni form flow of a predetermined volume of food and thisuniformity of flow being .obviously highly desirable, it is the objectof the present invention to so construct he nipple that withoutmaterially increasing theqcost of its manufacture it will insure auniform flow of food in any volume which it maybe determined because ofthe kind of food used and the condition and age of the child, is needfulfor the infants health.

As it is obvious that this invention may be embodied in many differentforms it will be understood that I do not limit myself to the specificembodiments of the invention shown herein. In Fig. 1 I illustrate adesirable construction. In this form the upper or mouth end of a nippleof the usual thin flexible rubber type is thickened, this being added tothe interior of the wall in order to preserve the exterior configurationof the mouth portion, and the discharge orifice in the center of thisthickened portion of the wall. This orifice has a greater diameter thanusual and into it. from the interior is forced a tube a of slightlygreater diameter, this difference in diameter being just suflicient tofirmly clasp the tube and hold it against dislodgment while 1n use. Thistube is closed at its upper end (which terminates below the upper end ofthe nipple) except for a central opening I) which is the feed-openingproper. The lower end of the tube is provided with an annular flange c,which abuts against the inner face of the wall of the thickened part ofthe nipple, this face being flattened around the hole where this flangeabuts. This tube is formed of a suitable non-,co-llapsible ornon-dist'ortable substance such as hard-rubber, aluminum, etc., so thatit forms a sort'of nozzle for the nipple whose discharging area remainsconstantuntil the nipple is worn out and which is completely incased bythe soft rubber of the nipple-body and is thus prevented from injuringor dis commoding the infant.

To further insure the nozzle from being dislodged, the opening in thenipple body may be tapered outwardly e. upwardly) and the body of thetube may taper slightly downwardly, toward its base. It is perhapsdesirable to make the nozzle r'cmo'v able, so that it may be replaced byanother nozzle. having a largeror smaller feed 0pen ing. It will beobserved also-that it is possible to make the feed. opening larger from.

time to time by reaming it out with a suitable sharp implement, withoutremoving it from the nipple. As shown in Fig. 3, the exterior of thetube may be'provided with little projections (Z to further insure itfrom being dislodged, and as further shown in this view, the top wall ofthe tube may be done away with and the tube made much smaller in itsinternal diameter so that the passage through the tube will constitutethe feed opening.

As shown in Fig. 4:, the nozzle plate may consist of -a small disk or?provided'with a central feed opening 6'. and having its annular marginalportion embedded, preferably by molding, in the wall of the orifice inthe nipple; but in this modification it will of course not be feasibleto make the nozzle removable and interchangeable.

It will be understood that by the terms non-collapsible andnon-distortable material I means any material which in the ordinary useof the nipple will be sufiiciently rigid to prevent the feed openingproper being altered in cross sectional area during the act of feeding,and it will be understood'that I having a feed opening smaller tar. and00- incident with the discharge opening in the nipple nose, the bodyportion of said nozzle.

have a Wide choice of materials which will serve this purpose and at thesame time avoid contamination of the food.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desireto se-- cure by Letters Patent, is'

1. A nursing nipple-of the flexible bulb type having a discharge openingin its nose portion and having fastened to the Wall of said nose portiona non-collapsible nozzle extending into said discharge opening from theinterior side and being held in place by the elasticity of the nipplebody.

2. A nursing nipple of the flexible bulb lying in said discharge openingand being held in place by the elasticity of the nipples having a feedopening smaller than and coincident with the discharge opening in thenipple nose, said nozzle having a flange lying against the inner face ofthe nose Wall and having a tubular body portion extending into thedischarge opening, said tubular body being larger than the normaldiameter of the discharge opening so as to be clasped by the resiliencyof the nipple body. I In testimony whereof I hereunto aflix my signaturein the presenceof two Witnesses this 3 day of December 1910. r.

' BURRITT S. LACY.

Witnesses:

OIHAS. M. OLMSTED, JAMES J. MEAGHER.

